The Deep Place: On Creativity and Spirituality

Friends, we’ve come full circle. We are home. And we've been changed. But the world back home is exactly as we left it… So how do we come home well, especially when the creative life continues to call us into new adventures over and over again? In this final episode for Season 3, Joel asks us to consider the idea of what it means to truly find Home, and to carry this with us, like a snail shell on our backs - a place of belonging within ourselves, so that with each new journey, we lean into the wilderness and challenges of our creative lives with more resilience and clarity. We also talk through how in coming home well, we return to the reason we started in the first place, and prepare to embark on the next adventure. Because like every good story, we cant wait to start it over again!

Lesley Wirth is an American-born poet, author, and speaker, with a masters in spiritual psychology, who works to inspire women to embrace their humanity and be open to the power of their spirit. In this conversation, Lesleys shares about her own journey towards healing through the practice of listening - to her intuition, to her body, and through the power and surrender of creative flow through poetry. And along the way, becoming somewhat of a master at tapping into those beautiful, almost unexplainable moments that we as creatives strive for - to become a vessel for the transcendent to write trough us. https://lesleywirth.com/ Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne

Have you ever had a transcendent creative experience but then when you finally brought your work out into the world… it felt like a bit of a letdown? In todays episode, we’re talking through how to come back down the mountain of our creative highs and release our work into the world in a meaningful way. Yep, we’re talking marketing, and as it turns out… it’s not such a dirty word after all! Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne

Joel speaks to Chelsea McGough - a cellist, composer, and producer based in Nashville, who’s compositions have been featured in films, television, social media and ad campaigns in the U.S. and abroad. In this conversation, Chelsea talks through losing her love for music and how she found her way back again, finally landing in a place that felt more like home. Chelsea and Joel recently performed together at Story Festival in the US, and off the back of that went on to record a fully improvised contemplative meditation album together, while living on opposite sides of the world. Chelsea and Joel discuss the creative process of bringing this album together and experiencing the magical “pixie dust” moments that can happen when we let go of perfectionism, and embrace the vulnerability of creating in the flow. The album FLOW - An Improvised Poetic Meditation is out everywhere now. ---- The music used throughout this episode is from Chelsea McGough’s various collaborations: Chelseamcgough.com Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne

If you’ve ever felt the pull towards two different directions within yourself or that life is just too short or not big enough to allow all the parts of you to thrive, then this just might be the episode for you. This week on the podcast, Joel speaks to singer, songwriter and musician from Melbourne band The Gentling - Emma Wyndham Chalmers. Emma shares about her relationship with creativity, and how this has changed over time as she made peace with the two “voices in her head” - or different parts of her character, that felt like they were pulling her in different directions. It’s a fascinating conversation that delves into the inner landscape of our lives, and we discover that perhaps when we spend time nurturing and listening to and reconciling the different parts of ourselves, that they actually have a fair bit to teach us. The Gentling have just released their new EP, “Running at the Dark” and their music is featured throughout this episode. The Gentling: https://linktr.ee/thegentling Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne

In this episode, we’ve come finally to the place we’ve been journeying towards all along… The Innermost Cave. The Centre of everything. The place where we meet ourselves and humanity and God and where all creativity flows out of. Joel gets pretty philosophical as he invites us beyond the Deep Place (our individual inner-self) to the DEEP DEEP (where our inner-selves connect with the inner reality of all things). We find that at the centre of everything is both our deep longing for and fear of connection, and all the ways we can get lost or blocked from accessing the wonder of this place. And we learn to see ourselves with compassion and love as we are broken open and filled up again and held here. Music: The piano music used in Joel’s story is from David Andrew - The Kitchen Tapes Other music licensed via Audiio.com Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne

Well, you’ve have arrived. You made it to the City Of Success and it feels glorious! …or does it? Is something missing?What is success anyway, and now that you are here, what does it look like to live authentically and genuinely in this life and still be able to give yourself to things that make you feel wonderful? In this episode, we’re building a house. YOUR house, in the City of Success. Not a mansion but a home. A refuge to dwell in and create in and welcome others into. Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne

Candace Smith is The Essence Photographer - a light seeking, photo ninja on a mission to help women come home to their bodies and see themselves as the perfectly imperfect, radiant, powerful beings that they are. Formerly an art model, Candace knows a thing or two about being on both sides of the camera. In this conversation, she shares her journey from modelling for others to becoming her own artist, and the immense power there is in allowing the beauty and essence in others to be truly seen by them, as they are. You can find Candace via her socials handle: @theessencephotographer Or via her website: www.theessencephotographer.com Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne

This week, we’re talking TRIBE. The Creative Journey was never meant to be walked alone. Like it or not - we NEED other people. So, in this episode, we name some of the different kinds of people that might intersect our paths along the way, and what this could look like as a movement towards community and belonging. Joel challenges us to truly see people and to live with the kind of empathy that allows us to be affected - that through being present to the real stories of others, we become changed. Or perhaps, even saved. Show notes Books: Gail Carriger - The Heroins Journey Pip Williams - The Dictionary of Lost Words Oliver Jeffers - Lost & Found Joel McKerrow - Woven Colum McCann - Letters to a Young Writer Music: The piano music in this episode is from David Andrew - The Kitchen Tapes Other music licensed via Audiio.com Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne

In this final episode for the year, we hear from Ingrid Laguna - an award winning novelist and educator, having published a memoir and multiple childrens books. In this conversation she opens up about her love affair with creativity in all the ways it shows up for her. She talks through collaboration & building trust, to her writing process, to the terrifying joy of discovering improv theatre, how creativity has helped her process unimaginable loss and make friends with risk and failure, and so much more, giving us a glimpse into a wonder-full and deeply rich life where creativity and curiosity lead the way. This episode comes with a trigger warning as Ingrid briefly talks about the death of two babies. There is also some mild coarse language. Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne Season 3 continues in 2023...

This week on the podcast Joel interviews the artistic director of Clock & Spiel Productions in Sydney - Hailey McQueen. Hailey shares her story from moving to Sydney to study acting at 17, to learning to create her own opportunities in the acting world and finding her way into artistic directing, now running a professional theatre company that works with some of Australia’s best talent. Meanwhile Joel & Hailey take on an impromptu challenge to write a monologue mid podcast (!!) and then dissect the process as it happens. This is a good one folks, get ya cuppa’s and listen in! Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne

When was the last time you did not have to succeed? When was the last time you did not feel guilty for doing nothing? When did you last think about why you started this creative journey in the first place? In this episode, hosted by Joel McKerrow - we enter into sanctuary; a time of slowing down, of looking inward, of remembering and reflecting and of play, without any agenda. This is indeed, the deep place, the well from which we draw our creativity out of. Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne

In this episode, Joel interviews author and Words and Nerds podcast host Dani Vee who gives us the inside view of what it’s like to live with anxiety and a wildly creative mind. Dani goes deep on how she has come to make a companion out of her anxiety, how to sit with it and channel this energy into her various creative projects. Show notes: Dani Vee: https://www.wordsandnerds.com/ Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne

This week on the podcast we launch the School For Creative Development! An online communal learning platform combining four different creative modules, over 50 hours of audio and video content, workbooks and zoom sessions with Joel McKerrow, to inspire your art, grow your audience and blow your creative practice out of the water! As we launch this, Joel talks us through what to do when we feel we’ve landed in the desert (creatively speaking), when the inspiration has run dry, and we are barely surviving. How do we find that lush fertile land again and what does the desert have to teach us? Show notes: Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM. This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne. All music sourced from audiio.com

Liz Milani is writer and creator of The Practice Co. In this conversation, Liz shares about her creative practice and battles with imposter syndrome, and gives us a deep dive into her story of leaving the church, deconstructing and reimagining her faith, and coming home to her creative, physical and spiritual self. Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM. This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne.

As humans, almost all of us have woken up at some point in our lives feeling lost and aimless, unsure of which path to take or where the path even is. And for many of us - and especially in our creative lives - the temptation to just give up at this point is real. In this episode, we find ourselves lost in the forest and Joel McKerrow shares five key tools for getting back on track and what this lostness might have to teach us along the way. Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM. This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne.

In this episode we have begun the Creative Journey. We face into the wild unknown and the foreboding blankness of the empty page and take a few tentative steps forward. Perhaps feeling like an imposter in this strange new landscape and longing for the comfort of home, and yet here we find ourselves. Joel McKerrow talks us through how we begin our journey, how we move forward and who to look to for guidance along the way. Show notes: The books referenced in this episode are: The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp, Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott and The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. Our sponsors are The Practice Co. and ACOM. This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne.

Based in North Carolina, Stephen Roach is a musician, author, podcaster and founder of The Breath & The Clay - a creative arts community exploring the intersections of art, faith & culture. In this conversation, Stephen shares about his creative process, how he sees the relationship between creativity and spirituality, seasons of transition and facing into the dark night of the soul. Show Notes: The music featured throughout this episode is by Stephen Roach’s band, Songs of Water. Find them on Spotify here. The Breath and the Clay community Stephen’s book: Naming the animals Stephen’s podcast - Makers and Mystics This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & Produced by Richelle Bourne.

In this episode we find ourselves at the “threshold” of our creative lives, and we have a choice to make. Will we stay within the boundaries of the familiar and comfortable that we know so well or will cross over into the Great Unknown, and embark wholeheartedly on the Creative Journey? What will we take with us and what will we leave behind? We also explore why this decision can be so hard, and what it means to find ourselves in the liminal space - when one thing has ended and the next has not yet begun. Show Notes: Richelle Bourne - The solo project Richelle mentioned in her story was Iris. Her current musical projects are with Tinman and Joel McKerrow & The Mysterious Few. David Andrew - The instrumental piano music is from David Andrew's album The Kitchen Tapes Books Wild by Cheryl Strayed The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran This podcast is hosted by Joel McKerrow & produced by Richelle Bourne

In this interview, actor, acting coach and writer Grace Naoum speaks about her creative process and approach to acting and storytelling - how she accesses the magic and how she does this with presence, vulnerability and authenticity. You can find Grace on instagram @grace_naoum_acting_coach The music in Grace’s poem is by David Andrew. Find his music on Spotify